One day I saw this issue of Japanese magazine (大人の科学, link here), and it was actually a magazine with a box. It was all about this self-made camera, which was in black plastic. The tradition camera was a manual one using film with two eyes, one for looking and one for taking pictures.

The box magazine wasn't cheap but I was too intrigued and so I bought it eventually. After 2.5 hours I finally assembled the camera. It was not perfect as some parts didn't come together very well but it looked like it was working.

The Japanese were so thoughtful. In the instruction it even told you where to use a piece of cloth to assemble some parts so that you won't hurt your fingers. It also gives you link to the Internet for movies showing you how some tricky parts are done. And they include the screwdriver too!

And through the eyepiece, I got interesting images of my surrounding!

And done with outer decoration!

I just bought a roll of film and will be testing it in the coming week. I cannot show you anything since this is a film camera and I have to use up the film, develop the films and scan the photos in order to show you the pictures this self-made camera can take. Stay tuned!

Mai Kuraki is on this issue of ME magazine, and I fall in love completely with the shots of hers inside.

And I love the first dress, a black dress by Marc Jacobs.

Her charisma is deadly. OMG...

Yes, this is Kay's first concert, first personal concert, which was held on 8th May night at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Thanks to my colleague who helped grab tickets for me, and our seats were pretty good, nearly centered to the stage!

Kay was the one who brought me back to Hong Kong music like 4 years ago. At that time, I was still discriminating against most of the Hong Kong pop songs and only listened to English ones. Later, I came across her new album (her second album) from my friend, and it was so good! Then, I bought back all her albums and loved them so much. Of course I didn't yet turn my head completely to Hong Kong pop, but I was all for Kay's lovely songs and her beautiful voice.

Kay entered the field of pop singers all by her own talents, unlike many other singers. Therefore, there is no doubt that she can sing very well. I admire her and her talents, and also her style and attitudes towards life and music. Her songs are not just about love, but many other things: Hong Kong lifestyle, about TV shows, about daily life like life on the train, about reactions against the tabloids...the variety has a huge range indeed. That's how special she is!

Alright, I know that you cannot wait more for my photos, and here they come!

For the first time we saw Kay dancing on the stage! The stage was monotonic but it was nicely designed. I don't buy the ideas of some of her clothes as they don't really fit somehow, but all I really care is her singing. She didn't really stop except during some short breaks when she took to change her clothes. That's what a singer should be! The three-hour concert was very good and I enjoyed it so much. Now I am heading for another little personal Kay concert: open iTunes and start playing all the Kay songs all over again!

As you already read from my previous blog, my sudden crush on Mai Kuraki 倉木麻衣 started from her new single "24 Xmas Time" (pronounced as two for Xmas time), and this love only grows stronger these days. Knowing that her new album comes out today, I have no choice but to buy it, even that I downloaded it from some sites the night before the release of the album. I just so want to own it, no idea.

And seriously, I don't know a bit of Japanese. While it has some Chinese characters in the language, it speaks completely differently. When I hear the songs, it is just alien thing, I have to admit.

Still, Hong Kong being a close city to Japan has a lot of Japanese culture influences, and Japanese music and things are not new. When I listen to the music, I can hear the delicacy in it. Each sound each note and each rhythm are all well made, and you see the work inside. Unlike some of the Hong Kong pop, it is not any attempt to follow style or trend. Japanese try to break through in everything while always doing their best. That's why they always have the finest details.

I like fast songs, and the fifth song in the album "I can't believe you!!!" appeals to me so much. The sexy voice and the slow kind of jazz like music, I feel so romantic and in the mood. The first song which is the hit song, "touch Me!"  is also very good. I just love it, and I have it playing all day already at home.

Yes it is obsession, but at least it serves a very good start and boost of energy for me to start the Japanese lessons this year! (self-learning indeed!)

Recently came across Mai Kuraki's new album "24 Xmas Time" and I got it out of curiosity. Right after listening to it, I just fell in love and this was the perfect Christmas song! Even it is long after Christmas already, I am now playing this song with "repeat once" option on. I know, this is crazy, but I do fall in love with this girl! Check her out!

In case you don't know who she is (I just know her too actually), she is one of the most popular singers in Japan. She came to Hong Kong recently and appeared in the APM shopping mall, which is actually so close to me! And I didn't know her or her coming to Hong Kong!

Now I can't wait any longer to get her new album coming out next Wednesday!

I am sorry, we didn't take any shots in the gig, because I thought it was about audio enjoyment only, and I have to say, it is a huge, great enjoyment.

The concert was on the 29th July at the Hong Kong Airport Expo, and she started it with her famous songs including "You don't know my name" "Teenage Love Affair", and then she started to play the piano, singing a remix version of Karma. It was so good that everyone waved their hands, clapped with the rhythm and called out when she said "say yeah!" Then, she ended the show with two of her hit songs, "No one" "If I ain't got you".

It was a great night, and I must say I am so surprised and inspired. She sings really well. No fancy clothes or eye-popping backdrop, but just herself with a great band behind, singing straight for 100 minutes without any long break at all. Crazy, and her voice is so much better than that in her albums! Great songs, great show, really make a great evening!

From FreeWillAstrology: Welcome to Part Two of your outlook for the second half of 2008. We're checking up on how you're progressing with the challenges you were given near the end of last year. I hope by now you've realized that you have unprecedented opportunities to forge combinations that have never before been possible. Opposites you'd always assumed would never attract should now be headed toward unification. Elements of your life you've long feared were irreconcilable have been showing signs of finding common ground, and may even be primed to achieve a delicious synergy. Keep refining your primal urge to merge, Scorpio

That is very true for me at this moment!

Life is busy as you can see how long ago I posted last time. Still I needed to squeeze out some time to get a gift for my mum, because it is her birthday! Together with Mum's day, we chose to buy a more expensive and more decent gift which fits mum more, and I found this toy in Lane Crawford's kitchen section. I just fell in love with it!

It is an Alessi vacuum cleaner! Designed by Stefano Giovanonni, this  product from Alessi is not new (2004) but still looks extremely elegant and contemporary. The smoothness and shininess make such a tool into a piece of sculpture!

And damn, look at the back, it is like a sports car! Now that is what I call design! More shots can be found in Mocoloco design site: [ link ]

Happy Birthday to Mum!

Good weather finally in Hong Kong, and that makes photo-taking possible for me. Here are just some shots I did last night, and they are just a few since I was too tired after work. Okay...again, this is MY city!

In the second picture, the rightmost building is IFC. The left one is my office, while you see HSBC in the middle. I like the trails on the road, a nice "X" pattern there.

Four buildings in a row...from left to right: Cheung Kong Center, HSBC, Charter Building and Prince's Building. That lightbox down there on the right is the Chanel shop. I love that kind of design on a facade of a building!

12th February
Okay I mean Chinese New Year, so, Happy Chinese New Year to all!

These days are busy as usual, but I have some free time after work since most of the things I did in the office already met the deadlines and were handed in, meaning that I can leave a bit early like around 6:30pm to 7pm. Last night I was about to get some time out after dinner to make a little cake. No big deal, it is from MUJI, and this is not the kind of home-made cake that you start from stretch.

Isn't it cute? It is a Aakula Cake with Green Tea Topping. That's a chocolate base, which is not that even somehow. I made the green-tea pattern on the top, and obviously it looks awful, haha...but it tastes really good, and it is fun! I so wanna make another one! Even more, the package has these little bags for you to pack the slices up, and the cake can be divided into six little heart-shaped slices!

Perfect for the Valentine's Day! What did you give tor your lover? I didn't send flowers this year since it is too expensive. Instead, I made a little rose for my lady. Yes, using Burberry paper! You cannot find this rose in any other places on this planet!

14th February

Yes, only one photo and if you wanna have the full view, come to Hong Kong to find me! (or my lady *roll eyes* )

Happy Valentine's Day!

Again, Apple leaps one more year ahead. Talking Macbook Air is not like talking about the iPhone, which is really an invention. The new notebook is just an innovation, but it is a breakthrough as well.

It is not true to say it is merely a notebook, because of both what it has and what it does not have. I have no intention to repeat the specs here, but it is important to note several points besides what PCWorld said in their website. It is light and beautiful, and these are the only major characters of the new notebook. That's it, can you believe that?

What worries me is the battery. As many of the reviews already point out that the fact that the battery cannot be changed will be a very annoying thing for those who will stick to the notebook for more than three years or so. If there is anything wrong with the battery, one can just buy a new one to replace it without getting trouble with the customer services, let alone the time without the computer when it is being "repaired" due to battery problem. Even worse, you cannot buy a secondary battery which can extend the operable hours. Making the notebook thin will inevitably push the battery into the notebook itself to save space, but that is not a desirable "compromise" Steve Jobs always stressed on the stage.

The second note I want to add is the price. I do not think it is cheap at all. WIth such a price, I don't mind paying US$200 more to get these things: 1.6GHz to 2.2GHz, a graphic card, a much bigger hard disk, a Superdrive (built-in), a screen with high-resolution, a separate battery and a remote control. I may miss a little more but I am sure these are already above the money difference. Then, why don't I just get Macbook Pro? It is definitely much more "pro"!

The third thing is that the lack of drive and lack of Ethernet port kill my interest. A moment ago I was thinking that its light weight could help a lot when I bring it along during my travel, but for what? For transfering photos into the computer so that I can spare the space in the memory card. But damn, first the drive has little memory (just 80GB, and remember the applications too!), then if I want to burn things on a DVD, it does not have a Superdrive either! Then, what is it if I am taking it with me on the trips?

In conclusion, this innovation, no matter how cool it looks like or how much it breaks through in technology, is just a piece of luxurious gadget to me. It is like I already have iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV and iPods/iPhones, and now I want to add a little excitement to life by buying this little Air, just to be ultra-portable in my room, or just to be connected online when I am having business in the toilet.

While it is one amazing piece of design, I have no idea why it can't have the things I mentioned above. You have 160GB Classic iPods, so why still just 80GB? An Ethernet port is useful, can't the book just spare a little more space, or be a little bigger, to accommodate that? Apparently I don't think this is asking for too much. These are so logical to me, and I guess it is only convincing when someone tells me this is a commercial strategy that a newer version is coming out in 4 months. In any case, I think I will be going to Time Capsule, even if I have the money to buy some "air".

"Dear Rob: Here are my New Year's resolutions. (1) I vow to Siamese-twin together my bad-ass, no-hype, wide-eyed self with my tricky, strategic, puzzle-loving self. (2) I vow to rage on like a dancing warrior in the urban wilderness, keeping peak experiences and total slaphappy victory at the top of my priority list, while at the same time I play hide-and-seek with the dark delicious secrets that fuel my soul's lust for wicked meaning. (3) I vow to deepen the collaborative efforts of my suck-out-the-marrow-and-spit-out-the-bones craziness and my listen-carefully-to-the-flow-of-the-underground-river caginess. -Double Intense Scorpio." Dear Double Intense: Scorpios everywhere will benefit from hearing your resolutions, which is why I've made them 2008's first horoscope. 

From FreeWillAstrology

The trip to Macao last Sunday was to prove one thing: how big is this building with a fake sky and fake canals inside? Macao is not a big city, and I have already been to there 7 months ago. Therefore, we planned to spend quite some time in this place, assuming that its hugeness could fulfil all our daily needs.

It is proved to be wrong, for people like me and my girlfriend who have seen much already in our beautiful city of Hong Kong. The giant casino isn't much appealing to us because we didn't intend to gamble. The line of hundreds of shops didn't impress us much either, since we have much more interesting and fashionable shops and boutiques in Hong Kong. Now, what is left is the hotel rooms. It is the only reason that attracted us to book. What is it like?

The outside is already filled with Victoria and classical styles. Just the entrance is huge, and you cannot believe that such a place does not only have hotel, casino and shops but also several big exhibition halls! The inside...

As the name suggests, the Venetian does have canals, and the gondolas! The river is blue like hell, because the bottom is blue! The sky is painted, and if your eyes are sharp, you can even spot the sprinklers! In such a place of no day time, you can shop whenever you like, and eat whenever you want to! The shops, again, didn't interest us much since we have already seen them in Hong Kong. Same name brands and same products, no surprise...

For the food, the restaurants ain't that special either, and so I will skip. Though we saved our stomach for a late snack, a double Fatburger! It was just delicious!

And the guestroom was huge! I never thought of a standard room having a little living room. Yes, a standard room only! And the bathroom was big, with a makeup table and two basins! Having such luxury without paying much, what do you want? (only ~USD136) for a night!

And the true main course for the stay was in the morning. We ordered in-suite breakfast to start the day, and it was really cool. The hotel guy arrived at the door at 9am sharp, and was about to set up the table for us in the room. Yes, we had a little dining table in the room! The two sets, out of our surprise, were very big, much more than what we wanted! Look at the basket of bread, just those were enough to stuff my morning stomach!

The stay was good, and we had a really comfortable night. Of course, the food made my day! We left this place before lunch, after checking all the other facilities in the building. Even the hallway was gigantic and luxurious, and I wonder how one could gather such money for a place like this.

Before going back to Hong Kong, we had a walk in the city center (finally out of the fake city, and see the real sky!). We had some really nice noodle for the lunch and deep fried fish ball.

Enough to make you drool?

The first day of my 26th year, I mean the day after my birthday, looks like this in the morning:

Wow, it looks good! Why? Because it is an HDR image! okay...I just want to say thank you to all of you who say Happy Birthday to me yesterday. I feel very warm and loved, thank you all!

And last night I had a great dinner with my lady, and the food was all very very good! Sorry, no photo because it was too dark in that restaurant called Ruth's Chris. Though I have this shot for you, which was prepared by the restaurant and surprised both of us!

Have a nice day! 

From Free Will Astrology: "Dear Rob: In the past few weeks, life has been opening me up over and over again, as if I were a rose that couldn't stop blooming. Every perception hits me with a soothing bolt of clarity. Every conversation is gracefully sculpted, as if composed by a higher power. I'm listening and actually hearing what people really mean. I feel accountable for each word that comes out of my mouth. It's amazing. Do you have any tips for keeping this state going on forever? I'm afraid I'll slip back into a duller, more self-absorbed state. - Scorpio On Fire."

Dear Scorpio: Don't cling. Don't be grasping or anxious. Instead, do what is potentially every Scorpio's specialty: Die and be reborn every day. Again and again, kill off the magic that's working so well and artfully resurrect it in a transformed version.

--

Wow, that's so true. I am so busy these days and I feel so much pressure. I can't sleep well for two nights and I want to die. Suddenly, last night I was thinking, if Scorpio is about resurrection, should I just go ahead and die (finish off anything in work, I mean, no matter how bad it would become), and be new again? (taking challenges and stuff) Damn, this horoscope just talks about the same thing.

Guess, it is just a harder door for me to go through. 

These days much have happened to my life. There are big changes in the people in my office, as some are leaving and some new ones are taking on board. One of the architects in my team was moved to another project, and I was to be in charge of the things she was previously working on. It is a tough job, because I am just a young man graduated from school for one year, and I am scared if I could not handle her stuff.

Still, people around me encourage me a lot. Except for the new 50-something architect who always walks fast like rushing to catch a bus, and also except the British architect who thinks he is very good and wants to control everyone, everything in the office is okay. I am learning a lot indeed, and when I have something to be in charge of, I have to be knowledgeable in some way. I guess I will stay here for some time, and as I heard of some good news for a confidential project to be resumed soon, my chance to work here is getting bigger.

Bad things also happened, while I am preparing for my HKIA exam, which already scares me to death. I am worried if I don't have enough experience or study for the exam, but I guess I will just give it a go. At least, it will be a nice warm-up.

Due to the heavy workload in the past two weeks, I had less and less time to do what I wanted. Still I managed to get a little time to work on the new forum, and last night I couldn't help shoot when I saw the beautiful moon when I walked home last night. The HDR processing does not help much to gain more details, and so in the end I just finalized the shots with different photos based on different camera settings. Of course, the images below are Photoshop-edited but I didn't add details to it. It is just two images combined: one is the background and one is the moon shot, in the same place and same angle. (And I have no idea what that dot is at the bottom. My lens is clean!)

And a bigger picture...

The funny thing is that when I was shooting, a security guard wondered what I was shooting, and warned me not to take pictures of the people in the buildings (I live in the estates). I was like, what the hell? I said, I was just taking pictures of the moon and if I really needed to peek, I would go up to the roof inside of setting up on the street! He just didn't make sense but anyway he walked away and it was all good.

If there is anyone living on the moon, then I am really peeking into somebody's home. What the hell...

I just went to watch the Transformers, and it is just unbelievable. While I want to correct you that this film is not directed by Steven Spielberg but Michael Bay, I also want to tell you that this whole robot thing is from Japan. Obviously, the Hollywood version completely modified the Japanese comics and characters, but it is still an eye-popping, visually overwhelming movie. And all I can say is, wow.

As expected, the movie has a really simple plot, but since you are not going to watch a robot movie with a lot of different twists and turns and since you are not expecting any train-my-brain plots, you just need to open your eyes and enjoy the visual effects. Indeed, right after it just started, the first transformation of a chopper into a robot will make you stare in awe.

The only problem with the movie is the way it shoots. For many of the scenes when a robot transforms, the camera will be zoomed in such much that you can only see a lot of machinery changing. That's it. It will be good if it is zoomed out more to see the whole changing mechanism. Other than that, it is total holy real 3D shit. You just can't describe it. It is pure organsm!

And the sound effects too. Oh wow, the robot sounds are still happening in my mind now!

At the same time, I am completely in love with the main actress in the movie, Megan Fox. This Taurus 23-year-old is just god damn foxy!

Oh my god, she is so pretty. I was already drooling over the robots, and then I drooled over this lady!

A must-see movie!

I mean shooting pictures! In this trip, I took photos with my new Canon 400D, and made full use of the lenses. I also shot some images for HDR compositions, and here are some of the cool results.

Just in case you don't know, HDR means high dynamic range, and it is a technique of combining several images of different exposures to form one image who contains more visible information. Your eyes together with your brain are actually wonderful cameras which can adjust images you see so well that you can see both bright and faded parts of a scene. The result is a picture of perfect scene with different parts leveled evenly in terms of contrast and lighting.

Your camera, though, isn't that cool. For example, I want to shoot this sunset. I either get this dark to see the sun in perfect lighting...

Or I have to increase exposure to get the houses...

Both of them are not good images. With HDR merging, you will get this, which looks very much like what your human eyes see:

I also got this street shot in the evening in Athens. With HDR merging, I got a pretty nice result.

Isn't that nice? I used Photoshop for the above street shot, while I like using Photomatix too, which I used for the above sunset shot. If I use Photomatix for the street shot, something more creative can come out, with stronger contrast and saturation.

Hope that interests you all!

I have been to Europe again after coming back from Spain. My second trip in the last 50 days is to Greece, one of the oldest places in the world. It was wonderful, and the place was filled with ancient ambiance. What was added to the great scenery and cultural amazement was the super hot weather. Athens experienced the hottest summer in the last 110 years, having a temperature of 46 degree Celsius! It was a bit too like being burnt alive!

Our first stop was Athens, and obviously the Acropolis was the first spot we would visit. This is the famous Parthenon, something that I needed to learn during my first year of architectural study.

I felt very hot when I was in Athens, but never really realized it was 46-degree that hot. We went to the Panathenaic Stadium, which was first built by the orator Lycurgus in 300-329BC. It was renewed and used in the 2004 Olympic Games.

Then we went to the islands, which are the real meat of the whole journey. The islands were so beautiful and the breeze really cooled you down, unlike the wind in Athens which was hot like exhaust air from photocopying machines. We first went to Mykonos, which is famous for its white houses and exciting nightlife. The landmarks are probably the several groups of wind mills, which are located both on the hills and beside the sea.

And we stayed in such a pretty hotel. It was like a dream!

Above is a panorama, and I got another HDR shot which was taken during in the morning.

After that we went to another island, the famous Santorini (also known as Thira). Have you seen the blue domes on the white houses? It is this island!

Wow, right? This is not a postcard, but a shot I took at noon time. It was so pretty that you won't really believe it is real. These little cutes houses sit on the cliff, and they are all painted white. It is government law that the houses have to be painted white every year! At night the little island looks like a piece of sparkling jewellery!

This time we were not on a guided tour. I went with my girlfriend and we booked the hotels ourselves. It was quite romantic and finally it is something called vacation, because first on these islands you will feel very relaxed. You just don't want to do anything. Second, there is nothing much to see except the little white houses and awesome beaches. When you see such a scenery, you will at once throw away your shoes and get into the water and play!

I don't know what to say, really. Wow! I can't say I like the Athens city since it is so similar to the old and outdated Guangzhou city in China, but I must say I love the islands! Next time, I will just skip everything and go straight to these white houses again!

I can't say I am too obsessed, since I am just trying to cover all the ranges. I just decided and purchased a tele-lens, the Canon 55-200mm f4.5-5.6 II USM. It is not expensive, unlike the other ones with IS, which would cost me more than HK$8000-13000! Anyway, I am still trying to test the lens since I really have no idea how to shoot with such a zoom lens...

I really enjoy the new possibilities this lens can bring. Even that the lens is hard to control sometimes (very easy to get shakes because it is a tele-lens, and also the minimum shooting distance has to be 1.5m), you can still get some really cool and powerful shots!

I am reading some photography books and magazines, and learn a lot how to shoot different kinds of objects and scenery. After knowing all these different techniques, I respect the photographers even more. The patience and skills the photographers put in the photos are just tremendous, and people too often overlook them. It takes much more than an expensive camera to get good images!

And I hope you feel the same too! And beware, there will be more and more photos in my website and my blogs!  

Yesterday it was a holiday, and thank God we had really good weather too for any outdoor activity. (actually, too good that I was melted nearly) My girlfriend and I went to the Ocean Park, and I think it was my first time in almost five years to visit this biggest theme park in Hong Kong.

We went to most of the halls to see different kinds of animals, since this park is basically a park about nature and marine life, and this comes as a good opportunity for me to test my new camera and lenses. Anyway, what you see now are images of the animals, amphibia, fish and sea mammals. No food, but animals with skins that may make your throw up. O_O Let's start...

The Polar Fox and Wolf seem not to like the new home...

In the amphibia house...

In the sea mammal place, someone (or something) wants to say hi...

In the aquarium...damn those people...

And we took the cable car...pretty scenery with wide-angle! And we also took the helium balloon for a little ride...

How great this is! I want more holiday!

Finally the computer acts to a point where I cannot stand it. After 5 hours of work, I put it into hibernation while I went out to have a rest. Then, when I came back, I just couldn't make it come back from the sleep.

The problem is that the keyboard doesn't work. It cannot even stop the boot and go into the BIOS system by pressing the DEL key. There is just no response! But the keyboard's lights are on, and I tried another keyboard too, and the same thing happened. It froze at the screen of choosing "Delete restoration data" or "Continue with the boot". Since the keyboard is like dead, I can't choose any of the two options above. I can just stand there and stare at the screen, WTF?

I am having much to do and helping my friend on some important works. Now, what can I do huh? Damn, I really hate this computer now. It has been like 4 years and it has more and more problems these days. I wonder if its lifespan has reached the top. Why is this always happening, when I am working for some urgent matters?

This is so ridiculous... I so wanna tear this computer into pieces!

Okay, I did write Cannon, not Canon. It is a Canon camera but because of its huge lens I now call it a cannon, which is ready to fire and shoot.

I am so happy to have this camera, my first SLR camera. This Canon EOS 400D is not very expensive compared to other similar SLR cameras, but I always like Canon and that is the main reason why I chose it. I also bought one lens, the 10-22mm 1:3.5-4.5 EF-S lens. As you can guess, it is a wide-angle lens and you will be able to capture nearly everything because the angle is wider than human eyes!

An image speaks a thousand words, and so I will just let you have a look at some test photos I made just a moment ago.

Wide angle rules! Then let's play with some depth with different settings of the shutter speed and aperture...

I just realized that I set the color mode to a different one and so the colors may not be vivid enough, but it is okay. It is my fault, not the camera's, haha...

I am so excited! Finally I can shoot some images I always dreamt to do! 

Finally I came back from Macau. It was a little trip of few surprises, but it was a relaxing trip for me and my girlfriend. The place was too crowded because it was the Easter Holiday and everyone just flew to this place for holiday. Next time I think I will go on trip when it is some normal days so that I don't need to push myself through the crowd.

When you hear Macau, you know it is about casino and gambling. Yes, there are several new casinos and one of the famous casinos is the Sands. This one is quite pretty and grand, but again it is all stuffed with people AND smoke. I really hate it...

Another famous one is the new Grand Lisboa Hotel. It was designed by my old company DLN (the firm I had my internship in), and I have to say it SUCKS HELL. They tried to design a flower in the middle of the town and what they did was just extruding a floral shape. What's more, they added a ball under the tower, which is the casino. Now the casino is open but the tower part (hotel) is still under construction. It just made me throw up and I can't believe that such a big architectural firm would do such a shitty design.

And this is what it looks like after completion. It SHOULD, but as above shows, the building would hardly be this golden and illuminating.

Okay, let's talk about other things than crap. Food? Of course, but in Macau, there aren't many special things to eat. There are two special things I ate though. First is this noodle, called the shark-fin noodle. Yes, there is shark fin inside! Actually, it is the fin base of the shark, not the top part which is the most expensive part. It tastes a bit....like nothing, as shark fin has no taste at all.

Then before going back to Hong Kong, we waited for an hour just to taste this thing, one of the famous snacks in Macau: pork bun! The pork turned out to be a bit too salty and typical, but the bun was extremely good!

[ click the image for blowup ]

Finally, take a look at the room we stayed. This is the new Star World Hotel, which was designed by a HK architectural firm Rocco Design (which is renowned for their great design). The design is quite special [ image ] but you know what people care about most is the room, not the facade! So take a look at this...

The trip was all good and nice, but very tiring. We had a little bad luck there like couldn't find taxis when we wanted to catch a cab, and we took the wrong bus, etc, but two days of fooling around is certainly better to stay home and face the computer!

This is another panorama I took during the Chinese New Year...finally have time to stitch the photos and post it up...

And CNY PP Deco means Chinese New Year Pacific Place Decoration. This is a shopping mall very close to the place I work. Have fun!

I was waiting for my girlfriend as Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday and walking along the waterfront, and I realized that the view to the other side was actually quite clear even though it was still a bit cloudy. I took some shots and stitched this panorama. Everyone, this is my city Hong Kong!

Again, in case you don't know, Hong Kong is in China, in the southern part of China. We speak Cantonese and also based on English in many places when written signs are needed. That means, we have nothing to do with Japan. Thank you for your attention.

I was reading an article on Yahoo! Life and found out that many of the things are true in this piece of article by David Zinczenko (15th March 2007), talking about what makes men fall in love. Have a look! I also underline something I found really true, because that is exactly why I fall for my girlfriend!

Judging from the kind of mail we get at Men's Health from men seeking relationship advice, I can tell you this definitively about men: When a man falls for a woman, he falls hard. Men love to be in love. While men often get stereotyped as single-minded sex-seekers, the truth is that a man's stomach churns like a slushy machine when he's in those initial stages of the perfect relationship.

When you consider that half of men say that they're currently not with their soul mates, that means a heck of a lot of slushy machines are waiting to be turned on. What are they waiting for? What makes a man fall in love? After you rule out the obvious intangible laws of chemistry, attraction, and being in the right place at the right time that kick-start many a relationship, I think the question really becomes this: What makes a man fall -- and stay -- in love? About 60 percent of men deem friendship the most important thing in a relationship (sex comes in at a skimpy 8 percent, according to a national Harris Interactive poll), but let's delve a little deeper. What exactly does that mean, and what kind of woman does a man really want? With full acknowledgement that men's tastes in women are as unpredictable as the plotline of "24," these are some of things that many men value in "the one."

A Woman with a Passion in Something Other Than Him
Yes, it's nice to be doted over. Yes, it's nice to be pampered. Yes, it's nice to be with a woman who showers you with compliments, neck kisses, and all of her attention. But there's a virtual Great Wall of China between a fleeting, flirtatious glance and the kind of attraction that can last a lifetime. Many men say they like a woman who's immersed in something else other than the relationship -- be it her work, or her sport, or whatever her "thing" is. Why? The passion she shows for something else confirms her inherent goodness, her personal drive, her independence. All pluses in the woman we're hoping to spend a few decades with.

A Woman with No Problem with Guy Time
Every relationship has to choreograph the time-together dance. Once a couple elevates from casual to serious, it goes through that period when most waking and sleeping minutes are spent together. But at some point in the dance, one person will call a time out from the music of coupledom, and try to spend more time with his or her friends -- while still being careful not to step on any feet in the process. Even when they're with the most perfect woman, men still crave the occasional space to spend golfing or drinking or doing whatever (64 percent of men are happy to have the time to themselves when their wives or girlfriends have plans). Men love, appreciate, and are thankful for women who respect and endorse (and not complain about) his need to have a few testosterone mixers. Don't worry, March Madness will be over in just a few weeks!

A Woman with a Strut
Her strut in the bar may have been part of his initial attraction. The strut from the bedroom to the bathroom after the first night together may have been pure visual ecstasy. But the strut that happens day in and day out is one of the major attractors for a man. What do I mean by the strut? It's that attitude, that sassiness, that confidence, that charisma, that charm that shows she can be a little bold and little daring. In a recent post I talked about the line between a woman being confident and a woman being so aggressive that she turns men away, but the truth is that in certain aspects of relationships, men want women who have the strut. Men want to be with women who challenge them, who push them, and who take the lead some of the times. And that's as true in the bedroom as it is in planning their next weekend getaway. The danger? While it can be insanely attractive, that strut of confidence can also swing a man 180 degrees -- if she uses it in other places, like to flirt with other guys, to become a relationship dictator, or to pick a fight with his mom in front of the whole family. He'll point that kind of strut right out the door.

A Woman with a Good Taste in Ties
Okay, so we don't really care about the ties per se. But what we care about is a woman's ability to give us a little-and this is a key word-gentle guidance. I know Freudian followers will say that it's a man's need to be mothered, but it's more than that. Every relationship is a give and take, and guys will definitely take women who can warn us when our new soul patch looks stupid, who can guide us to the perfect suit and shirt combo for an upcoming job interview, who can help them make decisions without being harsh or judgmental. Guys like to project that they know what they're doing and that they don't need any help. Women who can help steer us, without aggressively grabbing the wheel, are the most treasured copilots.

Have your own ideas about what makes us fall -- and fall hard? Share them here.

Holy shit, that is so true! What do you think?

Do not miss exercise
Having no exercise for nearly 3 weeks, I went to play basketball on Sunday. Guess what, when I woke up yesterday (Monday), I realized my arms and my thighs were a little sore. I am convinced again that one needs a lot of exercise if one sits in the office all day. Health is so important that even if you have everything like a good job or lots of money, without a good body you cannot enjoy what you have in the end.

Restart horror
My home computer was acting strange in the last two weeks. It restarted itself for several times once you entered Windows. The problem would stop after two or three restarts. I have checked and scanned for virus and spy-ware, and my computer was found to be more than healthy. I was so annoyed and really wanted to buy a new dual-cored machine. Then, several days ago Windows Update released a patch to fix a stability problem, and interesting enough it did cease the restart horror.

While such an incident did not lead me to a new computer (possibly a Mac!), it did make it hesitate to buy the new Windows. Yes, we cannot really trust Microsoft as I never did, but the sad thing is that while new Windows appear more like a sugar-coated defective scripts, more and more computers will use it in the future. No idea.

Organize your money
Being rich is not about how much you have, but also about how you organize your finances. I recently started to readjust my properties and was convinced that in the past 9 months since I joined this company, I was a bit too conservative. I felt a bit of pressure because I tightened up my expenses very much. Now that I am planning on a overseas trip, I should not plan in this way anymore. The important thing is that you have to be relaxed first in order to figure out your potential and vision in your financial planning. If you have a very tight control over your money, you may not be able to unleash the full power of your saving and investment.

Suddenly, I learnt so much in a few days after talking to my personal bank consultant. In life, there are so many things to learn. After leaving the university I need to learn a new environment and the rule of work in the office. Then I need to learn new things after going out with my current girlfriend. Finally, I have new lessons on how to manage my money. All these imply one thing: all the things before are just warm-up, this is the real meat of one's life.

I realize there is second part of what I posted before about the Scorpio weekly horoscope. Let's talk a look...

• "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about."
• "Everything popular is wrong."
• "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
• "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made."
• "Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."
• "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."
• "Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds."
• "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."

Yesterday I went to one of the remote areas in Hong Kong, the Discovery Bay. It is an area of low-density residential buildings, where mostly foreigners and rich people stay. Of course, due to the pleasant environment and easy access (25 minutes by water from Central), some people also go there on weekends to get away from the hustle and bustle cityscape.

And again, I wanna show you the good food first from one of the restaurants. You see, it is not the usual Hong-Kong-scape you saw from photos and books. It is all nice and fresh rural area! This restaurant is called Hemingways and it is quite nice (though some of the staff is a bit...numb and arrogant, no idea why)

We ordered a set lunch and one more baby rib dish, and they were good food!

From top to bottom are the salad (from buffet table), roast chicken with rice and the baby ribs with potato. They were very delicious and actually the corn were the surprise. They were grilled too but even a bit dry they were still sweet and tasteful. I really like it!

As said, the place is a quiet place and so you can see much open space and very few people. You have to reach there by ferry, and this is the boat you would get on to go to Discovery Bay.

How's your weekend?

From Freewillastrology...for Scorpios

You've entered an Oscar Wilde-type phase. I urge you to get a sense of how the British author's paradoxical brilliance worked so you can put yourself in a similar frame of mind. Study the following Wilde-isms.

• "I can believe anything provided it is incredible."
• "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
• "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh; otherwise they'll kill you."
• "Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."
• "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
• "Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul."

After the Chinese New Year holiday, many people felt like recharged but not me. The whole holiday was packed with different events and visits. While collecting red packets was fun, it is also tiring to travel from here and there within just a few days.

In China, it is a tradition to visit the Flower Market before the New Year starts. They are temporarily set-up booths selling flowers usually, but today they have changed a lot and you can find booths selling toys, celebratory ornaments and also food. These markets are crowded with people, and I haven’t been to there for nearly 4 years. This year I went to one of the Flower Markets with my girl, joining the crowd to see what’s new.

Nothing new, but a lot of different toys especially the balloon-type toy. You blow air into them and they turn into something. Now you could find air-stuffed cutters, hammers, signs or even roasted geese! Anyway, it was just a bit too much to me. Those people spent all the creativity just to design the air-blown stuff, and I wasn’t very impressed. Anyway, many of them were doing this to tease different things like political figures and common society issues, and so it was still a fun thing to look at these creations people sold.

In the Chinese New Year period, the most important part is the first three days, which are Nian Chu Yi 年初一, Nian Chu Er 年初二 and Nian Chu San 年初三 (meaning First Day of the Year, Second Day and Third Day, of course). We visit the grandparents on father’s side on the first day and grandparents on mum’s side on the second day, and stay home on the third. The third day is considered to be a “Quarrel Day” (赤口), and so it is best to avoid visiting others.

This year we had a special arrangement and so on the first day I went out with my girlfriend for movie and shopping. We visited our grandparents all on the second day and it was pretty fun. Finally I had a quiet day on the third day and managed to have some free time to clean up my room. Yes, it is a tradition to tidy up your home three days before the New Year starts, but I didn’t have the time because of work and so I could only do the cleaning on that day.

On the fourth day (Wednesday), I had to go back to work. The public holidays ended on that day and I was not lucky like some of the others, who had the holiday till next Monday. Still, it was a good thing because it was right after the Chinese New Year period and you could get red packets from the married colleagues. Remember, red packets were given out by the bosses and the married, not the others!

This year is the Year of Boar (okay, you can say Pig), and so what do you think you will be doing related to the pigs?

I felt a little low these days, and I realized that I was losing the passion in art and design. Probably it was related to the working environment, and also a bit to the jobs I was working on, but still, it bugged me for some time and I realized I needed to sort things out.

The Renaissance
I haven't done many pieces of art since I started working in this company, and I seriously think that life without doing art is rather unbalanced. Art is more important than I thought it was. I need to regain this artistic side of my life and begin to work on some new pieces.

Some months ago I also decided to stop taking freelance jobs, and I found out that was a wrong decision. I need to keep designing to keep the inspiration and mood, and it is not just the money, but the fact that design keeps you alerted and aware of what is happening around you, from technology to mentality. Design is about experience, and it certainly contains different elements that make you feel "on the track" all the time.

New Heaven
I am starting off the design drafting for the new Angelworld, which may be the last version of my website. I know the Internet is growing fast than anything and I still love designing, but it it is the time that I can't afford too much as work is my primary concern at the moment. Anyway, I decided to abandon the version 9 because 9 is not lucky to me some way, and perhaps number 10 will also signify a good end or checkpoint. For the new Angelworld v10, Eternal Celestiality, art and design will be the focus while the other sections will probably be removed, or played down. This time, I will also put architectural design into my portfolio, as a new inspiration to others.

The new site will be scheduled to be out at the end of October, while the sub-sites will be up much earlier. awBlog v2 will be up end of this month probably, and awForum v7 will also be coming soon together with awCard v5 (previously awCardcenter). awWings will be upgraded somehow because of new functions, and will act as the bridge across all the sub-sites since it contains shared information. awSpell will continue to be refined and added on with other codes.

Good days start with good habits
I realize I need to work on some tiny stuff in my life too so that I can keep the passion in work, love and life all the time. There are many things to do and it is important to jot them, list them out and arrange them in the order of my ability. It is more important to follow the plans too or otherwise it is just nonsense.

I will be doing warm-up exercise at least twice a week before sleep, and forcing myself to read twice a week as well before sleep. I need some revision on Spanish too and that will be for weekend, together with working on the new awBlog and awForum. These will be my priorities and so let's see what will happen after 2 months of "probation".

What's your plan for the new year? I mean, plans, that you can immediately work on in small scale.  

On Friday our company organized the Annual Dinner for all of the employees. It was a big event since there were about 1350 attending this dinner and even more, the Chairman also came to join this dinner and made a speech to all of us.

I was really happy to be able to shake hand with this man, one of the 10 richest men in the world. He was over 70 but he was still quite healthy! After his speech on the stage, the dinner began and we had actually food like you would have in a Chinese banquet. I had two glasses of red wine but I didn't feel well probably because I had eaten some other things before which crashed with the wine. I would think so because I never had problems with red wine, but anyway, I got something cool after the lucky draw, which is...

Right, a new list on my music device list! It is not like I was dying for an iPod Shuffle, but I was very interested in this little clip because of the design. I did not think I would buy it though because it cost like HK$650 for just a small thing. Now when my older iPod got little battery problems, I can now play with this clip and continue to fill my route to work with music in an easier way. I like it much! (probably because I didn’t pay anything to have it!)

At the same time, I bought some little pots of plants to place on my office desk to brighten up the place a bit more, and they are cute too! I didn’t realize at the very beginning that this one with floral leaves needed a lot of water, and after the day I brought them in, all the leaves bent downloads like wilting while still being green. I was so scared and I added a lot of water. After 3 hours it actually went back to normal like the time I bought it. It was a little funny and also miraculous to me!

So did you do anything to your room to start off the year? Or do you think you need to? I think you should!

So many things happened in the past 365 days, and I learnt a lot too. Let’s take a look at my 2006 first.

The Thesis Year
I started my year with the preparation for the thesis project in the university. It was kind of important because after all it was my last year of study, probably in my whole life. At least it was the last year of my official education life in schools.

The thesis project was fun and actually I had been anticipating for this for a long time. I didn’t care about anything at all but designed the things I wanted to. In the previous years you were assigned to design specific buildings and now you were allowed to do whatever you liked, even the way you would start and work out your design. It was really fun actually, but still you would feel lost if you had no idea what you wanted to do.

While my project went quite smoothly, my relationships with the other colleagues did not go well. There existed doubts, disagreement and competition, which made the atmosphere of the studio really tight. I hate that but there is nothing you can do to such situations, since it requires all the efforts of different people. I can only say, at least we shared some good times together.

Graduation Show, show time.
I was the head of the Publication Team of the Graduation Show Committee, and was in charge of the design for the book, invitation card, poster and venue installation. The experience was wonderful and valuable, and working with the other team-mates was fun. Even more, the show was a success, and teachers and professors gave me compliments about the design of the show, which definitely boosted my confidence in design work.

However, the show also reveals the dark side of the classmates. It is sad to see how selfish some classmates could be. For example, they only cared about themselves when they were moving the panels and models, setting up the venue and cleaning the place after the show. Just some of our committee members did the cleanup and job and I can tell you it was really tough. After the show, we were supposed to pack the models and move them onto the trucks. Some of the classmates just packed up and left the place, leaving the models for us to move! How selfish is that! It is ironic that they are pious Catholic. Is God teaching people to love and share and be considerate?

One of the coolest lessons I learnt is that you can work hard in school, but you have to pay attention to such exhibitions too because this is the place you are known to others. I didn’t do very well in the exam, but I was recognized by several firms and was lucky to join my current company. Score in school is important, but showing others how good you can be is even more.

Work hard, hard work.
Finally I ended my school life this year and started another chapter in my life. While many people can’t wait to join the work force, somehow it is also sad to leave the university. It is like losing freedom and start the life of nine-to-five. It is scary.

Still, working in my current office is fun. We are doing things that other firms may not have a chance to do. Even more, my seniors also gave us much freedom to work on the designs, so that when the design was built, we felt proud of it. It is very important to me because only in that way can you feel successful and not being used in the office. It is your design and people support you.

Also, the working environment was cool since we had our own room. We could do anything inside. We played on PSP when I didn’t need to work, and we listened to music during work too. It was just like the school studio, but actually, after September I moved out and worked in the new pool outside that room, and now I worked on the normal office desk. I made this decision because I felt extremely laid-back in that room and in the end my efficiency would drop to zero. Also, my new desk faces the harbour and with such a beautiful and open view, working is definitely much more fun!

Compared to my other classmates, my job is not extremely well-paid. Many people thought so since my company was one of the biggest developers in Hong Kong and the Chairman is one of the ten richest guys in the world. However, my salary is just normal like other junior architects. What is better than my classmates is that I would be paid for overtime work and I can leave the office on time. These are all “benefits” of the employees here, if you want to count them in.

Found the other half
Friends are important but 2006 showed me the other side behind the façade of friendship. Besides the bad people I finally realized during the graduation show, some of my friends left because of arguments or disagreement. Interesting enough we didn’t have a fight, nor did I hate anyone or vice versa. Our friendships just faded because we didn’t find any more topics to talk about, and thus didn’t manage to keep in touch. I also realized that some friends were just the come-and-play type. When there is problem, they will fly away. Isn’t it pathetic? That is one of the greatest lessons in my life!

But some friends were kind enough to remember me (isn’t that the greatest gift from friends already? Ha ha!). Apart from my friend from Australia (old friend moved to Aus), I made some reunion with old friends and old classmates. They were all cool and gave me much warmth in the year.

Love is always a mystery in my life it seems. Being single is not new to me and I have already been accustomed to such a free way. I think it is one of the reasons why I did well in school because I did not need to spend any time to deal with girls and their related problems. I said once after graduation: if I can choose, I will choose work because that is most important to me at my age now.

Very soon, God hears it and gives you a different situation to handle. Very unexpectedly, I met her and it was just too beautiful and fabulous. Love has never been like this and she opened my eyes completely. While it sounds a bit too fast, our relationship is unbelievably stable now and I can only say I will continue to work hard to realize my promise: keep this as our last long-term relationship in our lives.

Love is not easy, and after only 2 months I already realized I needed more knowledge and experience in the world of love. Going out with your girlfriend is nothing like hanging out with friends. Two people come together and two lifelines are like overlapping onto each other. You have to deal with your lover’s daily problems besides sharing happiness with her, on both practical and emotional aspects. Sometimes I feel frustrated because this is harder than you think, harder than any projects you did in the office, but actually, the key lies in understanding and giving. With these, you will be able to handle any love problems easily. That, is exactly one of my major items in the new year’s resolution list.

Disney Finale
After the unforgettable birthday, I had the coolest Christmas too. Cool not in the meaning of temperature, but meaning great. I went to the Disneyland in Hong Kong on 25th, and stayed one night there as well. The theme park was not very big as you may expect, but unlike what others commented, I enjoyed it much and I think it was very nice. You would not expect any crazy or super-cool rides or attractions, but it certainly has the mood and feel as a cartoon place. The fireworks were nice, and the staff was friendly too.

The main course of the whole trip was the hotel. We stayed in the more expensive one, the Disneyland Hotel, and we felt that the beautiful rooms and services were worth the extra money we paid. The mood was good and all the amenities were well-prepared and ready for use. When you stay in, you will feel like you are in the northern Europe, if not in a dreamy cartoon world.

Embracing the new year
2006 to me has a lot of unexpected changes and new achievement, and in general it was all good. My life has been changed too, as you can see I did less art because I was embarking on another chapter of life: work. If one asks me now how I felt about 2006, I would say it was a very valuable lesson so far and I learnt a lot. I think I need no more because I feel very contented. Things were happening very smoothly and now I got someone I love, what more do I need? Oh yes, I need the new year resolution! I don’t need any more materialistic items but some more learning in different aspects. Before going on to the resolution table, let’s have a look at last year’s one (check my past journal and you will find this!):

• Complete the thesis, which I hope can inspire people and give them new light on architecture + graphics.
• Complete more than 20 pieces of art.
• Able to play Moonlight on the piano
• Able to travel again (not on a tour) in Europe
• Able to do more in the kitchen (I mean cooking)
• Complete awBlog with Cyberworker (must be done, very confident)
• Learn AJAX.
• Find a good company that I enjoy working in after graduation.

Clearly there are many items I still have to work hard on and finish. Playing moonlight? I think that is going to be forever. Okay, I should be trying at any time. So that is my new year’s resolution: complete the unfinished tasks. Isn’t that a good plan for the year?

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. I finally finished it in two weeks and a bit more. I was recommended by my boss and some other colleagues, and it was a great book even though not as great as I expected. Since I don't feel like writing about what this novel is about, I shall copy what Amazon.com says.

Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles:

"I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it."

This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy.

~Written by Mark Thwaite at Amazon.com

It is a strange book I have to say. It appears to be a very descriptive narrative, to a very extreme way of writing that he wrote everything in detail. He wrote about flowers when the boy in the novel sat down. He described how the wind blew and how the people reacted when there was fire. It is very detailed and when it comes to some sex scenes, the description is even more explicit. You can even imagine that you are like watching a porn movie. Still, it is about a young boy, around 18-20 and so it is revolting like porn.

The book is about several tragic love stories around the main character, and to me it is to express that love can be inevitable somehow. Sometimes you love a person but he or she doesn't do the same. Sometimes you depend on that person but he or she is not the one you will love. It is complicated yet it is the paradox of life.

I do feel the same. You are not completely in love with that person but you feel obliged to be with her, due to some responsibilities that you think you have to take. You two may be better to be friends not lovers but you two fall into each other or even sleep together. Such a relationship completely bounds your life, preventing something good from happening. Sadly in the story, it is only when death comes in to cut the knot.

And maybe my boss is right. The story teaches you how to live your life: that is, just live it, instead of thinking about how to. Go and love. Forget about any so-called boundary or doubts. When you are in, you are there. You can't be in when you are still outside, even if you are thinking about what being in it is like.

Open your arm and embrace. That's what life should be. 

Yesterday after lunch I went to the bookstore, and couldn't help but buy this book. We all like Lonely Planet because we used them for traveling on our own. They recently released this fun book which will show you how cool this world is.

While one will think that it is just another travel book or novel, this is a completely different approach of visiting other places. In the book, you will find the best places for wedding and watching the nature, or the most dangerous place, or even the most crowded place. If you are not that insane, you can just skip the Area 51 and visit one of the deepest oceans with your oxygen tank. At the end of the book, you will find something a bit more normal. There is a list of countries and the must-go cities. Hong Kong, no doubt, is on it.

Have a look at it and you will see how fun this book is. We all know that we can't really visit all the places on the planet (either you don't have sufficient money or the Earth dies before you do), and so it will be a good idea to visit those places through the texts and images the book offers you.

First, let's take a look at today's weather:

Lovely weather, and it starts to be cold too. Winter finally arrives. Then, here comes the fire.

The fire happened at a construction site at Kowloon Bay, and at the time I am writing this (12:13pm) the fire wasn't yet put off. The fire started at 25th floor of the new building, and now I am reading the radio official website for more details.

Sky is so clear that you can see that smoke column. Wow. That's how big curtain wall helps you to get close to what's happening in the world, haha.

Went to this amazing tal-show-and-orchestra event, which is an amzing hybrid. One of the stories really laughed my ass off...it was Jim using one minute to tell the story of Romeo and Juliet...

"Juliet, I love you!"
"Romeo, I love you too!"
"I love you so much!"
"I also love you very much!"
"I want to come up!"
"My parents are here!"
"No problem, I am climbing up!"
"You will fall!"
"I am falling now! Ouch!"
"Are you okay?"
"No, I am not okay! I need some Panadol!"
"Okay, you jump I jump! Ouch!"
"I am dying! You should not fall down!"
"No, we will die together!"
"Let's commit suicide!"
"Let's take these pills!"
"Oh, I am dying!"
"I am dying too! Is this hell? I don't wanna doing to hell!"
"I don't want to go to hell too! I want to go to the Heaven!"
"Oh very bright, is that cloud?"
"Very soft, very comfortable!"
...

Finally I decided not to buy a new dual-cored PC, but upgraded my graphic card and hopefully survived with this computer for 12 more months. Now, my computer configuration is like this: P4 2.4GHz; 3GB RAM; 200GB hard disk, ATI X1650 Pro (256MB) and different drives. You know, it is an old machine with old slots, and the card is not on PCI-X. I think it's okay, since reviews showed me that many of the people here in my city still use AGP and will only upgrade when 2007 comes. That means you can still find AGP cards in the stores.

Finally I bought the card and installed it, and also bought the new game NFS Carbon. I of course tested the new display card first with the older version of NFS (Underground II) and holy mama, the game ran smoothly with ALL the effects turned on! Thank God I did not waste my money, haha!

Then I installed the new Carbon (which is actually the Collector's Edition with calendar), and it runs okay. It can run okay with all the effects turned on too but since all the scenes are very 3D-demanding (as all the things can be knocked down in the street, not walls that you cannot break), I prefer to lower the resolution (to 1024x768) for the play.

The game is insanely beautiful because of the graphics. The lighting is very real, as they will dim when you crash your car into some walls (your headlights will be covered right?). I really appreciate how they started to put some real physics in the game, but it will make the game hardware-dependent very much, pushing some gamers outside the door if they don't have powerful machines.

I actually got really little free time for games, and so I am not worried about any addiction. However, as I was going back to the office this morning, I was thinking the previous Quake 4 game would now run very smooth on my computer! I should try playing it again! Hell yeah!

That's why I love Hong Kong. It is sooo beautiful...

And such a view just makes everything so romantic...maybe you should move to here!

So many things happened these days and I realized finally that the world could go faster than your own pace. It is normal I guess because one can say this would be the best way to kill time. What I need now is actually just one minute, for me to take a deep breath, and check what is going on these days.

Everything goes well though. It is all good. My boss is on leave next week but I am already assigned to work on my lobby design, with two schemes ready when he is back after 10 days. I am actually happy with this because I always like to work with deadlines. I too very much look forward to the design because this is the first time I am in charge with a building design. It is gonna be fun.

Other parts of my life are better than I want it to be, too. After my probation in work I have another one now, a virtual one for my relationship. However, it is going to be much more romantic and enjoyable I guess. Family matters are all settled and we are all having fun. Mid-autumn festival, yesterday, was a memorable day. I went out to have barbarcue with my colleagues, and we watched the full moon around 11:45pm, which is the time when the moon is closest to the Earth in the past 9 years. It was a wonderful night and I went back home at 3am.

Though I didn't eat too many mooncakes, only 1/4 so far this year though I have very much ice-cream. They are all ice-cream mooncakes and you know I just can't resist that....arrr....

1st October is the National Day of China, and so everyone has a holiday today (Monday). You know I work 5 1/2 days a week, and two consecutive full days of holiday seldom happen. Finally now I got much time to do what I want.

I should correct it to "do what I need to do". Finished all the freelance work and finally I got time to work on my new piece of art and also draft for the coming version of Angelworld. It is all time-consuming work and if you only have a day or two, nothing can happen really even for a little progress. Moreover, if I have a day for my weekend, I would choose to have sports or to shop or to spend time with my family. I guess only when your weekend extends for one or two more days, you can do what really want to do.

I felt a bit unmotivated these days, probably because of the lobby design I was working on. It was just a bit too complicated and not in my style, and working out some art nouveau type thing really killed me. It was, though, a very good experience and chance to learn about history and classical masterpieces. Of course, in the end I really want to go to the top floor of this hotel project: the skybar that I will design later.

Let me write more when I get back. I need to get out and get some fresh air this afternoon.  

Last night I went to the mini-gig with Alonzo, and it was a show between Kay and Shirley. Okay, I just realized that it should be a Kay's show with Shirley Kwan as the guest. (but c'mon the poster was like they were performing together for the whole show!) Anyway, finally saw the real person of two divas, a budding one and a classic one.

There is no doubt Kay can sing well, and that's why she is popular. Most of the songs were English, which is fine with me. She also sang one Chinese song and sang one with the piano. I like beautiful and talented singers, you know

After some songs like six or seven, the "guest" came out. I really looked forward to her performance but what the hell she only sang two songs, with Kay together.

In the end there were only 9 songs at most and the show only went on for less than 90 minutes. (I think it's just a bit more than an hour!) I enjoyed the show and they sang really at top quality. However, the show was a disappointment in general. First, Kay performed nearly for the whole show and most of us were expecting Shirley to sing more. It was just not enough especially after you have paid HK$200!

The most disappointing thing is some of the inconsiderate audience. The show was supposed to be a standing show (no seat) but after I entered the little hall there were seatings for the earliest and the special. Final, but if you have a seat you should just keep your darn butt down on the chair. They even showed up some lighting panels to support their idols and also blocked our already-narrow views. At the middle of the show they even stood up and blocked most of the views from behind. I was just furious. What the hell? People shouting at them to stand down and the atmosphere was pretty intense. Horrible.

Whatever, at least I got some real live experience from the two great artists, though I have to agree with Alonzo that I would choose to use the HK$200 to buy their albums instead.

I think everyone has a luck bank account. Inside, you have a certain amount of luck, which is always a constant. It may be a constant for a week total, or a year total, but never just for one day. That means, in any week you will have the same amount of luck for you to use. If you use too much one day, you will have less to use on another day.

Tuesday was wonderful. I woke up early and I felt so much energy. Then on Wednesday I was so tired and things didn't all happen in my way like Tuesday. It was like a reverse of the previous day but it wasn't that bad though. Anyway, these days life is like a little roller-coaster. I got problems with my computer, then it worked out again fine. Back to the office, it was all slow because we just finished a presentation and we wanted to lay back, but then I was assigned to work on another part of the same project, which was really tough. I was so stuck and uninspired suddenly, as if the previous presentation had already dried me up. Thank God my relationships with other people including my family were all fine. Otherwise I will be dead.

Now I want to check my luck balance. I don't mean to use anything or pre-use anything. I am just curious and then maybe I will be mmore cautious about the way I use my luck in the future.  

This weekend started fabulously, with the weather like all blue with one or two clouds. So beautiful. Then Sunday arrived, the weather turned bad and it rained. I wanted to do so many things, but the rain just affected me much.

Still, I am happy still. At least I am alive, unlike my computer. Yes, it fucked up again. Now it can't even boot up with any screen images. I suspect that my ATI 9800 is dying since the BIOS can boot up but the graphic card is acting strange. However, actually when I am plugging things in or out, the computer will crash and blank out suddenly. Sigh, I planned to upgrade my computer this Christmas, not now! I have no  money now and damn it!

Anyway, I went out today and I got another CD, Catwalk Glamour, and it is so cool! Oh gosh I am just too addicted to house and electronic music

Okay, in this coming week I will finish my matt painting...I need to do something to it...but first I have to deal with my dying PC. I have to fix it!

Some of you may already know about my plans to get a newer computer. I was actually planning to upgrade my current computer (P4 2.4GHz, 3GB RAM and ATI 9800 Pro) but since this machine is quite fast to me still, not to say with the 3GB RAM you can do nearly any graphics, I am not going to throw this away. Therefore, I will instead get another PC, which should be something like E6600 (2.4GHz dual-cored) with 4G RAM and ATI X1900 XTX.

However, what happened last night really drove me crazy and made me think maybe I may not get a PC. I didn't do anything at all before this. I went back home after work and tried to switched on the computer. It got a blank screen after passing BIOS. Then I reset it and it froze again at the same screen. I tried again and it went blank again after showing me the Windows desktop. I unplugged everything and tried after 10 minutes, and it worked again.

The thing that bothers me is not having computer problem (hardware or software), but is the fact that it always happens when it is urgent. I was planning to finish my work last night as quick as possible after coming back at home around 2230, and I was so tired. Then the computer was playing with me on such a trick or failure or something, and it is just very annoying. I guess I am destined to have such a problem with computers: they listen to me when I am having enjoyable free time, and mess up when I am in a hurry.

I have decided to purchase the new 24" instead of buying the planned dual-cored PC. I know, this may be a very impulsive decision, but I am actually very interested to buy an iMac. Since the Macbook Pro is so problematic, and I don't mind having an iMac, 20" or 24", in my room. Also, it is cheaper with same config and a bigger screen: 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM (max) and ATI X1600. With iMac being able to run Windows, I will definitely get one when 2007 comes. I tried on an iMac today again (my school has two for me to play but I am already outta school so yeah), and it feels extremely good (again). I am sure it will help much in my daily routine and workflow, like my current machine does, as long as it doesn't freeze before entering the Windows login screen. You know what? I really need something very very stable. So far, my Mac Mini NEVER got any problem in the last 15 months while my VAIO got viruses and spyware, and my PC got hardware failure and Windows driver issues. Whatever.

It is not a wrong spelling. It is really "that" in this journal title of mine. Last night I watched the movie the Devil wears Prada, and it is really a nice one.

I will skip what the movie talks about while you can read it here. It is more like a narrative film where Anne Hathaway's life changes when she is getting better and better in the job. Life is unfair, and her job is even more. Gradually when her other aspects in life start to fall apart, she rethinks about her position and what she is really craving for in career.

I am not a fashion-sense person. I like good clothes and I like look good and smart. However, I am not into the fashion world because I am not interested in it so far. Therefore I cannot talk about this movie on the fashion part. I can only say that the clothes on the girls are sexy and beautiful.

The movie actually talks about life and work too. Anne (playing Andy) is actually looking for a job as a journalist, but got into the fashion magazine company and worked for the fashion queen (Streep). The queen is notorious for her behaviour, demanding work requests and endless sadism on the staff. Anne managed to do the job in the end, but life was falling apart: friends leaving her, breaking up with boyfriend, indirectly kick away her colleagues that she didn't want to. "Is work really like this? Is that what I want to do?" she thought. Indeed, when you get higher and higher, you start to do introspect about what road you are really walking on.

Two days before my boss and my colleagues were chatting about being an architect. We don't have the most salary but we work harder than many other professions. We make good designs that shock the world but in the end we don't make the money that we can spend for 10 years while the building does stand for 10 years. It is hard to work in the design world these days especially in Hong Kong when commercialism and money govern the pace of and attitude to life. Perhaps one would say it is hard to compare jobs and achievements. Indeed, and I guess they were just bitching about life when they are not feeling optimistic. For me, as my previous journal said, I am happy and I feel contented. I very much enjoy my work here and I am really aiming for higher places. But definitely if I were Andy working under such a boss, I would just quit because I believe there would be far more jobs that allow you to do what you want and also make you feel happy, right?

Seriously, for you to think, are you happy with your job? Are you having this job because you like it or because you just don't want to lose or you just want to prove yourself? In the end, when family and friends are in conflict with your work, what will you do? What is fashion to you? Is it just expensive iconography on human being? Fashion is design, but how much do you want to know or pay for fashion?

Yesterday I was chatting with my colleagues. I just realized that we shared really different opinions in attitude to life, money and love. I think I am a bit conservative but contented, while they always want to think about wild life (love and sex) and life that is easy with tons of money.

I know everyone loves money, but if I can choose, I will choose the life I am having now. Then, I was suddenly being laughed at. What's wrong with my current life now? I am happy (maybe happier than they are), and I am happy with my architectural and design career. I have done art that inspires others while I have helped people in different ways on art and design. My family is good and supportive, while love appears like a decoration to me since I am contented with my single life. I buy what I want to when I make money, while I eat what I love like ice-cream and chocolate. I know different sports and got talents, and I am taking up piano and Spanish. Isn't that meaningful and productive? Isn't that what life should be?

I just don't understand their point of view. I can't see laying back is this enjoyable. Having a break is great, but having a long break like for your whole life makes no sense at all. I don't want to live like a dog or other kinds of animals. I want to LIVE. I want to make my name on the history of human. That's me. 

I just realized that the "showtime" was over. Yes, the Apple Expo, in which the new iPod arrives. I am very interested in the new iPod Shuffle, but I am not sure if I want to have another iPod when my current one works very fine.

The new iTunes also comes at the same time. There are great changes in this Mac music player, and I think it is quite influenced by the new WMP 11. You can view your playlists and songs in a album mode, while it can download the album artworks itself. I don't fancy the new look since I always like the shiny iTunes 4 better, though I am happy that they finally got some nice features that I can use.

One of the reasons I say it is similar to WMP 11 is the cover page for your personal iPod. This is so "Windows", if you know what I mean. But I am glad that I am informed by my iPod's status. It makes life easier. The coolest feature is the gapless playback! Finally they put this feature into the player and I swear it is just too late, though better than never. Since I listen to quite some house and dance music, this feature will be very very useful.

Don't comment on this journal about what you use instead of iTunes. I heard too much of personal preferences and I am not discussing which is better either. As long as it plays well and does the job well in importing and displaying music files, it is all good to me. 

Though my Friday wasn't very happy in the end, the days after were very enjoying for me. Saturday after work I went to movie "Click", and I must say I am quite surprised. It turned out to be a really nice movie, because you may think it is just a crappy comedy, it is actually qite touching. It makes you rethink about life, about who you care about and about what you should do in your life. Otherwise, life will only end up in misery and regret.

Time is limited, and if we don't do something, you may never be able to do that (again). Say that you love him/her, to your parents, to the ones you love. Show your love, share your love. It is so important and also very easy, but we just want to procastinate and think "later, later and later". It is pathetic, and we must be aware of that.

The movie made me cry nearly, because I haven't really showed how much I care to those around me. Life is all about love, just like the book I read last month, Tuesdays with Morrie.

On Sunday it was a cool day. The temperature dropped to 23 degree Celcius, and the sun hid behind the clouds. I woke up around 8:30am and I can't wait to have exercise. After basketball and the lunch, I just thought that I should walk outside instead of hidding in the room, so I went out to TST and shopped around. I got another Bargrooves album and a new book, The Rules of Work. When you are getting serious about your life, you wanna look through each chapter of it and make the best out of it. This book just comes in handy.

I finished all my work after shopping: two freelance jobs and one competition drafting. I feel so relieved and energetic as well. It feels cool to achieve all these things, and I guess the coming Sundays will be even more productive, I swear!

When I say hot and wet, it doesn't necessarily mean something sexy or sexual. It is the weather in Hong Kong. It was burning hot two days ago and it finally rains today. I don't really like raining but since it makes the temperature lower, it makes me feel good.

Last night me and my colleagues including my boss were planning for a basketball game, but in the end nothing happened because we didn't have a court. I didn't want to lose my planned sports day and so I left early after office hour, and went swimming after a quick dinner. I haven't swum for a long time and I am losing the summer, so I should swim more when I have the chance.

It feels so good to be back in water. Some people hate swimming alone, but I don't really care. In water when you are floating, you feel like flying. Free, floating and flowing. It is like the most relaxing thing in the world.

There is one more thing that captivates me during swimming, the caustics underwater. Caustics is the water shining pattern at the bottom of the pool, and it is ever-changing. The light shines in and forms just a lovely pattern for you to look at when you are flying in the water, and I think that's one of the greatest shows by the Nature.

Safari is a damn fast browser to me, fastest I have ever used. Firefox loads fast, while Opera is also very good, but Safari is insanely fast even in the entering address procedure. I use Safari on my slow Mac Mini (yes, slow cos it is PowerPC G4 1.42GHz only), but it already impresses me with the speed.

In Safari, if you just type "gmail" it will get "www.gmail.com" like insatntly, yes, instantly. "robgoodlatte" will go to "www.robgoodlatte.com" without hesitation at all. In other browsers you have to wait like 3-10 seconds so that the search engines find something for you. Now I think Safari got a tough match. It is Shiira.

A project from Japan , Shiira is another super cool browser for Mac. With the same speed of loading websites and web address as Safari has, Shiira also contains numerous useful settings and beautiful layout design. As you can see from the website, the coming version 2 has the most awesome features ever. Page dock with that fading in full-screen mode, you can surf with joy. Page trasition like flipping your book is wonderful (if your machine is fast enough), while the translucent dark tool windows (like history and downloads) make all your web experience so good!

I can't wait till the final version is released. And I gotta save money for the Macbook Pro too, which I hope to buy next year in spring.

After getting the PSP, I just got addicted to my new game The Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0. It is insanely cool, but the main reason I was playing it like hell (during free time I mean) is that I love speed. I guess every boy loves speed. You are controlling a wild house running at 150mph with both your opponents and cops chasing after you, you can imagine the intensity and also the feeling after winning. It is so cool to see cars running and drifting and dashing across other cars. And now I am so looking forward to the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (above image as in the trailer, up in theatre here this Thursday). I wanna dash!

And I just checked the EA Sports website and they are already preparing for a new game, NFS Carbon! Dark roads with drifting kings, this will be really exciting! I just can't wait!!! And my Supra is back! (image below, the new NFS Carbon trailer; bottom, NFS Most Wanted, currently playing. Two images are from EA websites)

Holy shit I gotta slow down, breathe, and get back to work... 

Last week Iwas lucky to follow my team to visit some great hotels in Hong Kong, because we are working on a hotel project now and we want to get more information of the current hotels and see how we should design ours. The most exciting thing is the presidential suite. It is the room that you will never be able to get in unless you are a president or if you are very very rich. Now let me show you what it is like. Remember, it is a hotel room, not a home! But it looks like a home already!

The living room...



Side rooms for little gathering...

Dining room...

Bedroom. Holy shit...

Smaller bedroom...

So do you wanna be a president? No for me, I will get much money to live in this instead!  

The book is very touching. It is sad, right at the beginning, but it is great to see how a dying man taught the lessons of life to the young man who were just chasing after trends and earning money. More than apparent, this book is a relfection of today's life of most of the people. We are all working. We are actually lost without any goal or objective. We don't know the meaning of life. We only know the basic way of survival (which doesn't equate to living).

I never cry when I am reading a book but this book really touches me to make me shed some tears. Everyone has a life, but that doesn't mean at all that we know how to live it. This book shows you what is outside the issues of money and fame. It is not about you, but the things around you: friends, knowledge, family, spouse, children, marriage and finally, love. Love in the general term. Share with others, learn to forgive and understand. Go through your emotions and find the road to calmness. Throw away your preconceptions and break the rules set by the culture that everyone is embracing now, cos they may not good for you in the end.

Tuesdays, it is always Tuesdays, but the lesson is for every day.

She "stripped" and now she is back to basic. How raw can that be?

Christina Aguilera released her first album after her marriage, which is also her third album. Her previous one called Stripped showed the world that she could sing, and she sang well. This time she did it again.

I like her really except the fact that she like to wear underwear in front of the camera for MV or shows. However, back to songs, there is no other diva like her these days when people just like to show off how sexy they can be. Whether or not you think Christina is sexy or slutty, her songs are purely the aphrodisac. The new album features tracks, and they are all very well executed with Christina's voice. She manages to bring back the old classic style with her "overwhelming" and strong way of singing.

You should try her new album out. What she did never disappoints, it seems to me. If you want something to listen and you want someone to sing well too, now this is what I would recommend.

I also listen to some older music and believe it or not, some old songs still touch you. I just love Mariah Carey's album "Butterfly". The song Honey is still sexy and tempting, while "The Roof" has beautiful lyrics. Her latest album "The Emancipation Of Mimi" is also another easy-listening CD. I especially love the song "Stay the Night", which is perfectly to listen to during the night.

I have no idea why some people like to bash against pop music. I don't want to repeat myself, but just listen to what you like, AND respect what others choose for themselves. You don't need to force others to listen to your music. Why do you need to?

This afternoon, I carried a stack of nearly 750 pieces of paper from one paper store back to my office. Imagine, 750 pieces of paper of 170 gram (that's the unit of paper when you buy it, not totally 170 gram)! That is like carrying two fat babies! And I just checked the distance on the map. It is nearly 1km.

Holy shit. My hands are still shaking even when I got back home. Right after going back to the office, I couldn't even lift a cup of water.

First aid...please.

Finally the preview for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is up, together with the new Mac Pro machine. While I like hardware-strong things, I actually enjoy more on the virtual space because that is the part you are on most. You won't look at your machine all the time but you do look at your screen.

The new operating system has something called the Time Machine. It is a  tool that backs your system up from time to time, from data to images to documents, and everythign is like sucked into the galaxy for you to rewind up. Yes, a galaxy...

You should have a look at the Quicktime movie at Apple's site because the animation is just amaizing. With its new Core Animation, you will see such insane interface transitions. You can go back time and find what you need. It is very useful yet very enjoying too.

The new Mail 3.0 pushes graphical email templates to another height. You can set a template, then drag images from your library to replace the template's ones. Add your own notes and listing in your email and they willdo the same even it arrives the recipient's mailbox. Isn't that cool?

Another stunning feature is Spaces. It allows you to create several desktops (four this time) so that you can define your own workspaces. One for work and one for music, for example. Or one for graphics one for web-design. It is all up to you but the menu bars and dock will remain there. This is just lovely!

The dashboard got even more powerful. Put a website into the dashboard so it loadsup the pageon the dashboard. The new OS also includes the Dashcode, which allows you to create your own widgets.

The reason why I love Mac OS X is the fact that it caters for your computer usage. It creates a nice environment for you to work on. Unlike Windows, Mac OS X is something you can also relax and have fun. You feel that the space is interactive and dynamic, and it greets you with different gestures and graphics. Windows is like a typical home with technical configuration. It is cool and basic but you can finetune many things. Mac OS X is a home with beautiful features, that you will enjoy even you do nothing. It is not boring and every tool comes in handy. I like life like that, and I think with the new Morem chip from Intel, I will get a Macbook Pro soon. I can only afford a Macbook Pro with Leopard and Merom chip.

Last night I went to watch the movie that probably many people would watch during the summer, Superman Returns. I will just skip the details and go straight to the commenting. You may get the plot from many movie websites.

I think the movie is quite good, but when one looks carefully, there are many details that the movie makers should have thought about. Some elements just don't match the scene. First of all, when was the story happening? In the future or now? Or past?

Chronologically lost
You would see old buildings, old-styled clothes, and old farmlands. However, then you will see very modern cell phones, and even an Audi. What's going on? I have difficulties to find out exactly where I am on the timeline. They got different elements from different periods of our history (or future) into the film, and you have no idea if this is 1980 or 2050. Old styled building of the newspaper company with an Audi in the street, which was filled with old yellow cabs. Arha...

Too advanced?
There is some physics that is kinda misleading too. The free-of-gravity shot when the aeroplane was brought to space is rather strange because this kind of phenomenon should go gradually. You won't have a moment when you suddenly lose gravity, and suddenly gain it back. Also, if a plane is so out of the atmosphere, the plane will probably explode due to pressure. Or it loses pressure since the plane was actually damaged. Okay, if the material was that strong, why was the city, again, like an old one?

Anyway, one shouldn't go that deep like I do ...you know, it is important to enjoy the movie. I did enjoy it, but I just got some questions behind my mind too. Overall it is a pretty nice movie. You don't need to care too much about how much it make sense. You know, a Superman doesn't make sense already.

And last thing, I like the crystal land. 

You know, when you work, you don't have much free time for the things you wanna do. Finally last Satuday was a public holiday, and that means I have two free days to do anything. You know, I need to work on Saturday morning too, and so two-day weekends are rare to find.

Site Work
When you are free and have the time to do anything, however, you actually don't wanna anything. You just want to sit back and feel relax. Ha, it is rather contradictory. Anyway, this weekend was all good. I finally picked up the development of this blog system (on awBlog site) and after tons of research and tests, this WYSIWYG editor is working perfectly here. I adopted the engine from TinyMSC, and it works really nice here with a lot of customizations. I hope to finish the basic stuff this week or so, and then Cyber will be able to work on the advance features like PDF conversion and character imaging.

I also fixed some bugs in the forum, and added some new things. This will definitely help the integration of the new awBlog site.

Brazil went home
Still, out of the computer, I got things to do. Last Saturday night I went out to the Cricket Club in Happy Valley to watch the game between England and Portugal. I stood up for like 2 hours and damn, there was no goal for both teams, what the hell! Around me were mostly British people, and they were pretty excited and intense. They definitely got pissed off when the game went into PSO, and they shouted at the screen when the commentary said that England never seemed to win any PSO in history.

The more unexpected result is the loss of Brazil. How come they didn't get even one goal? I pretty much think that someone is controlling the game, or that Brazil just got very very bad luck. Anyway, I can only hope that they can rethink what they did wrong and try not to make the same mistake again.

Anyway, that is my day. I gotta write the article too in the Studio Section about the making of Charge. I have two pieces of art to do too, and one is about robots and machines. I will keep all of you updated!

Btw, this blog is written in awBlog. What do you think?